Hello everyone! I know it's been awhile, but I've honestly been working on this chapter since I posted the last one. It was a little tough to write, because I get this feeling that the story is coming to a close and I needed to tie up the loose ends. So this chapter is mainly a transitional one that is setting the scene for the ending (meaning that there isn't a TON of action).
Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed last chapter! I didn't quite get the 25 that I had been hoping for, but I am very pleased with what I did get, so thanks much!!
As always, R&R, it makes me happy :D And most importantly, enjoy the chapter!!
-Keita
Music: Title Track: "How Do You Do" by Shakira; End Credits: "With You" by Linkin Park; Others: "Endlessly She Said" by AFI, "Our Own Way" by Mushroomhead, "Better" by Plumb, "Truth" by Seether
How Do You Do
How do you do?
How does it feel to be so high?
And are you happy? Do you ever cry?
You've made mistakes, well that's ok 'cause we all have
But if I forgive yours, Will you forgive mine?
-- "How Do You Do"
"The Hokage wants to see me? Why?"
It was midday and Mariko was in the backyard going through her Juuken motions that Neji had taught her while Sayuri, Jiro and the Inuzuka twins, Mai and Yukio, watched and occasionally attempted to copy her movements. Naruto had been at the Hokage's office that morning, reporting on a mission that he had just returned from late the night before. He immediately sought his stepdaughter out when he arrived back at the house to deliver the Hokage's request for a meeting.
"She didn't tell me why, just that she needed to speak with you," he replied.
"When?"
"Sometime this evening; she said not to come before five though."
Mariko nodded and went back to practicing her fighting forms, but her mind was elsewhere.
I haven't done anything wrong, so she can't throw me back in prison. Well, I guess technically she could, since I am still a prisoner, just one with privileges. But why would she do that? I'm guessing that she isn't going to tell me that they've decided to let me go home…
She couldn't come up with any reason that Lady Tsunade would want to see her, so she tried to push it out of her mind and focus on her training instead.
She was significantly more comfortable using her Byakugan and she could now see for up to three-quarters of a mile in any direction. She had no problem seeing humans and large animals, and she was working on focusing on birds and smaller animals to sharpen her eyesight.
The Juuken was also becoming easier for her. She still had her training sessions with Hiashi, so she was able to practice it with him – he wasn't too shabby in that particular style himself, after all – and he also showed her some new tactics for combat.
The Hyuuga lord had told his granddaughter that Neji had agreed to spar with her again that week, and the news had put Mariko into a state of eager anticipation. She had arrived at the mansion every morning hopeful that that would be the day that she got to show up her cousin, and every day thus far, she had been disappointed when she discovered that she would be training with Hiashi and not Neji. It wasn't that her grandfather was a bad training partner; he just wasn't as good as Neji.
"Mariko!"
The girl was jolted out of her concentration by her brother's high voice. She deactivated her Byakugan as she turned to face him, wondering why he insisted on yelling all the time.
"What is it Jiro?" she asked.
"Will you take us to the academy to see Hachi and Keiji?" he asked hopefully.
"I don't think we're allowed when they're having classes; besides, we don't want to distract them, right?" Mariko tried to reason with her black-haired brother.
"Aw, please?! If we go now, it'll be break-time when we get there and we can play with them," Sayuri put in her own plea.
The four children turned their eyes up to her and Mariko knew that to argue further would be useless; she sighed in defeat.
"Alright, fine," she groaned. "Let's go."
The kids cheered and dashed ahead towards the academy. Mariko grabbed the long-sleeved shirt she had discarded during her training and pulled it on over her tank top as she walked after the children.
Sayuri and Jiro were behaving like perfectly savage little creatures due to the presence of Inuzuka Mai and Yukio, who were apparently always this wild and seemed to bring it out in their companions. Upon meeting them, Mariko had found the twins rather fascinating; each child had one brown eye and one blue one, but Mai had dark brown hair like her father's while Yukio's reddish-orange hair was a mystery to everyone, especially his parents. Still, Mariko thought that they complemented one another nicely.
When they arrived at the academy ten minutes later, Mariko found that Sayuri was right; they had made it in time for the students' midday break.
The two Uzumaki children rushed over to Hachi and Keiji as soon as they spotted them, while Mai and Yukio ran to greet their older brother, Suoh.
Mariko waved lightly to Hachi and Keiji before leaning back against a tree trunk to watch over her siblings while they played. She felt out of place here; she had never been to school – her father and the other Akatsuki members had taught her everything she knew – so she wasn't comfortable with the idea of being crammed into close quarters with at least thirty other people for an entire day.
She was busy scanning over the crowd of children who seemed to range in age from about seven or eight to early teens. She tried to picture them as shinobi; none of them seemed that fearsome now, they all looked so innocent.
"Hey, you lost, pretty girl?" An obnoxious voice asked.
Mariko turned to face the source of the question and was met by the sight of two men – one with shaggy brown hair that fell over his eyes and the other with crazy, spiky black hair, a bandage over the bridge of his nose and a mischievous grin on his face; Mariko guessed that it was the latter who had spoken to her.
"No, I'm not lost," she replied, tingeing her words with a hint of venom, hoping to seem off-putting so that they would leave her alone.
Spikes took a few steps forward. "Well then you must be new around here because I've never seen you before."
"I'm visiting," Mariko replied shortly.
"Oh really?" Spikes asked in an over-exaggerated tone; Shaggy rolled his eyes. "And where are you from then?"
"Akatsuki."
The devilish grin fell from Spikes' face and both he and Shaggy stared at her like she had suddenly sprouted another head; Mariko just smirked and turned her eyes back to the school yard.
"What are you doing here?" Shaggy asked.
"I'm a prisoner."
"No, no, I mean what are you doing here, at the academy?" Shaggy and Spikes were both acting nervously now, like they had been poking at a snake they thought was harmless only to discover on closer inspection that it was actually venomous.
"Plotting world domination by taking over the school," Mariko replied in a viciously sarcastic tone. "I'm watching my brothers and sister, dummy."
"Wait, what? Brothers and sister? Who are they?" Spikes was visibly concerned now and he ventured a few steps closer to where the silver-eyed girl was leaning on the tree.
"I'm not giving you information on my family! I don't even know you! For all I know you could be plotting world domination by taking over the school!" Mariko turned again, this time facing him with her entire body, and she crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at the man in front of her.
"I work for the Hokage – we both do," he gestured towards Shaggy, who seemed confused as to how they managed to have the tables turned on them and now they were the ones being questioned.
"That means nothing to me; you could be imposters. Working for the Hokage would certainly make you seem trustworthy, wouldn't it? I bet that's just what you two planned: get everyone to trust you and then make your move. I suppose it's clever, a bit unoriginal though," Mariko shrugged, inwardly breaking out into hysterical laughter over the completely baffled looks on the faces of Shaggy and Spikes.
A bell rang and the students in the schoolyard all reluctantly filed back into the academy building; the two Uzumaki and two Inuzuka children started to make their way over to Mariko, who said to the two men staring at her, "Oh look, playtime's over; sorry gents, gotta run. It was nice talking to you though." And with an evil smirk and a lofty wave, the silver-eyed girl went to meet the four younger children and walked away with them.
Back by the tree, Kotetsu and Izumo hadn't moved; each one was still too bewildered by the unexpected encounter they'd just had with the strange girl.
"Who was that, again?" Kotetsu asked.
Izumo shook his head. "I have no idea, but I think she just pulled a reverse psychology move on us."
"Whoa…" Kotetsu said in amazement; Izumo nodded his agreement.
Mariko had decided to go to the Hokage's after dinner. As soon as she was done eating, she excused herself and headed out. The sun was already beginning to set, lighting up the bare treetops with blazes of fire. The wind kicked up a little, bringing the familiar and comforting smells of autumn with it.
The spicy blend of scents made her think longingly of Hidan, who she had always associated the seasonal smells with, and she felt the sharp pang of loss in her chest.
She absentmindedly kicked a rock down the street as she thought. She had figured out not too long ago that she loved Hidan; even if he didn't return her feelings and though he had told her time and again that he didn't love her, it didn't matter. She was a little upset with herself because she had always harshly criticized women in books or on TV who were chasing after a man they claimed they loved but who didn't love them back. She had called them weak and stupid and commented to whoever was near her at the time that they should get a life and quit being such whiny ditzes.
Well now here she was, in the exact same scenario. She was in love with a man who didn't love her back. It was true that she wasn't pining away over him – she was much too busy to be that extreme – but her heart did ache for him.
She let out a heavy sigh and tried to push thoughts of the silver-haired priest out of her mind as she approached the Hokage tower.
She entered the tower and walked up several flights of stairs before reaching a long corridor with tons of doors on each side. Mariko figured that she would be able to tell which one opened up to the Hokage's office just by looking, but she decided to activate her Byakugan because she wondered what else went on in this tower.
She quietly activated her maternal bloodline ability and peered through the doors and walls as she made her way down the hallway. She was disappointed to see that there was very little activity at the moment; she had been hoping to witness some huge secret plot to defeat Otogakure, Iwakagure or even Akatsuki being drawn up. Naruto had told her of the fierce enmity that existed between Konoha, Iwa and Oto, and she already knew that they weren't friendly with Akatsuki.
Obviously, or else I wouldn't be here, she thought as she continued to scan the rooms through the doors.
The one thing she did see that interested her was Neji sitting at a table and talking with her uncle and Kakashi. She had to fight the urge to bust into the room right then and demand a sparring match from her cousin. She even slowed her pace until she was standing still, mentally telling her limbs to keep on moving, but physically unable to do so, the temptation was so great. Kakashi looked up from the discussion for a moment, right at the wall that Mariko was behind, and gave a quick smile before refocusing on whatever they were doing.
The girl in the hallway was momentarily taken aback, thinking that he had seen her. But she dismissed it as coincidence and was finally able to get her feet to take her forward, continuing down the hallway.
He had sensed her coming down the hallway by the chakra that she put out using her Byakugan, and he knew that she must have seen them and paused to watch them from the hallway. He chuckled lightly to himself at her startled expression after he had smiled at her, drawing strange looks from Sasuke and Neji.
"What's so funny?" Sasuke asked.
"Nothing, I was just thinking of something," Kakashi replied in his lazy drawl.
Sasuke and Neji exchanged confused glances. "Okay then…anyways, like I was saying…" Sasuke continued going over the protocol with the two.
Mariko was correct in her earlier assumption that she would have been able to tell which door belonged to the Hokage's office just by looking at the outside. The looming double doors just screamed "important!" at passers-by. Still, she thought she'd have a bit of fun spying before she entered.
She saw the blonde-haired woman sitting at her desk, holding a paper in one hand and using the other to cradle her head. Mariko smirked when she removed the hand from her head to pick up a cup of sake, which she drained in one swallow.
A few moments later, Mariko was startled when the older woman yelled impatiently, "Are you going to actually come in or are you just going to stand there spying through the walls?!"
Dammit! Mariko thought, how can these people tell that I'm spying?! Stupid Byakugan! What good is it if everyone knows when you use it?
She deactivated her eyes and shuffled into the office with a glum pout on her face at being caught again. "You wanted to see me?" she muttered.
"Take a seat," Tsunade gestured towards a chair that sat facing her desk; Mariko plopped herself down in it.
The Lady Hokage and the Akatsuki girl stared at each other for several long moments during which neither of them spoke.
"So," Tsunade was first to break the silence, "How have you been?"
Mariko was totally caught off-guard by the older woman's casual tone, like they were old friends who were finally getting the chance to catch up with each other.
"Um…I'm fine, I guess," she replied hesitantly.
"Are you enjoying your stay with your family?" the Sannin continued.
"Yeah, they're pretty nice." Where is she going with this? Mariko wondered.
"ANBU has noticed that you seem to be settling in nicely," Tsunade continued.
"I've adjusted, not settled," the silver-eyed girl corrected the Hokage, "I'm not staying."
"Is that so?" Tsunade narrowed her amber eyes slightly.
Mariko nodded. "Yes; I'm leaving as soon as my father comes for me."
"What if he doesn't come for you?" Tsunade asked, "After all, it's already been…what, three weeks?"
At this comment, Mariko felt anger flare up in her; crimson started to seep into her silver irises. "He will come for me," she said with dead certainty.
Tsunade gave a small, throaty laugh at the girl's reaction. "Now, now, there's no need to get all angry…it was just a thought," she paused while she poured herself another cup of sake, "However, you do realize that if – oh, excuse me, when – your father returns to Konoha, he will be imprisoned."
It was Mariko's turn to give a small, dark laugh. "You'll have to catch him first; good luck with that."
The Hokage's amber eyes locked with Mariko's now-scarlet ones challengingly and the two women stared each other down hard. Tsunade's eye twitched slightly and the corner of Mariko's mouth turned up in a grim smirk.
Once again, Tsunade broke first. "Well, that's a shame that you won't be staying with us," she said, her tone once more that of pleasant conversation, "I'm sure that with your natural abilities and the skill that you undoubtedly possess, you could have gone far in the shinobi ranks. I have no doubt that in a matter of months you could have joined your uncle and cousin in the ANBU."
"Yeah, since Sasuke's so fond of me," Mariko sneered.
"He'd get over it," the Sannin said before draining her sake cup.
Mariko shook her head. "I don't belong here anyways."
Tsunade looked at the girl before her; her eyes had gone back to their natural silver color and she was looking distantly out of the office window at the sky, streaked the colors of blood and fire by the sun's last fading rays.
"You could belong here," the Lady Hokage said in a tone that was much gentler than the one she had used until then; Mariko looked at her doubtfully. "I'm not saying it wouldn't be difficult, but you're strong and you've handled change well so far."
Mariko leaned forward in her chair, fixing the Hokage with her intense, ethereal stare. "How do you know I won't turn on you like my father did? Hm? How can you be so sure that I wouldn't snap one day and slaughter my entire family while they slept? Are you really willing to take that risk?" Of course, Mariko knew that she would never harm her family – quite contrarily, she would give her life to protect them if it came to that – but she wondered if the Hokage had considered this and wanted to see what sort of reaction she would get from the blonde.
Tsunade was a woman who did not like being threatened; she had never reacted well to having threats made to her own person, but since she had become Hokage of Konoha, she took even less kindly to those who threatened her village and its people.
She folded her hands and rested her chin on them, also leaning forward slightly and hardening her gaze once more. She spoke to Mariko in a low, dangerous voice. "Look, I'm offering you a chance that not many of our prisoners get; if you don't want to take advantage of it, then fine, but don't you ever make a threat like that in my presence. If I didn't have such respect for your mother and stepfather, I'd throw your ungrateful ass back in prison right now. Your father is a traitor and a murderer and if he comes back here, he will be caught and then he'll be executed."
Mariko's hands tightened into fists, turning her knuckles white and her silver eyes bled into scarlet again while her lithe frame trembled in fury. "So," she said shakily, barely containing the wrath in her voice, "What you're really proposing when you ask me to join in your little village is that I turn on my father and become enemies with the men who raised me."
Tsunade couldn't help smirking. "Well, betrayal runs in your blood, after all; your father shouldn't be surprised."
"It takes a traitor to know a traitor," Mariko whispered dangerously. "I'd really like to leave now."
For a moment, it looked as though Tsunade was about to put up more of a fight, but she seemed to think the better of it. "Fine, you're dismissed."
Mariko stood up, violently shoving her chair back as she did. She walked over to the door before pausing and craning her head so that she could look at the blonde woman once more. "I want my sword back," she demanded.
"I don't think you'll be getting that back for some time yet," the Hokage said flatly.
Mariko, however, acted as though she didn't even hear the other woman. "I expect it back by tomorrow evening." With that, she left the office, slamming the door forcefully behind her and stormed down the hallway.
Tsunade growled as she buried her face in her hands and gripped chunks of her long blonde hair in frustration, trying to keep herself from throwing anything through the window.
Sasuke had just concluded his meeting with Neji and Kakashi and was about to head home when he heard the slam of the Hokage's door, followed by heavy footsteps. He turned to see his niece stomping her way down the hallway, her eyes burning red and a look of death on her face. She appeared to not even notice him as she raged down the corridor.
He had heard that Tsunade had wanted to speak with her; by the looks of things, it hadn't gone well.
Sakura's words of advice flickered through his mind as he watched his brother's daughter, and with a great deal of effort to make himself sound as non-imposing as possible, he called out to her. "Hey."
Mariko had caught sight of her uncle in her peripheral vision, but she was too angry to pay him any mind. When he spoke to her though, she stopped and slowly turned her head to look at him with dangerous eyes. "What?" she hissed.
Sasuke hadn't actually expected her to stop, but she had, and now he realized that he had nothing to say to her. "What's wrong?" he finally asked.
At this seemingly innocent question, Mariko completely rounded on him and stormed back over to where he was standing and proceeded to get up in his face as she screamed, " 'What's wrong'?! Like you fucking care anyways! Don't act all nice to me now, you sonofabitch, you're not fooling me! I'm not staying, I'm getting my sword and then I'm going to wait for my father to come and get me and there's nothing that you or that bitchy Hokage can do to make me stay!" And with that outburst, she was off again.
Sasuke was slightly dumbstruck for a moment; he shook his head, making sure that he hadn't just dreamt that entire scenario. He followed the path that his niece had taken out of the tower and it wasn't hard to pick up on her chakra signature – she still had a long ways to go before she learned how to effectively manipulate and mask it – and after walking a brief way to the edge of the woods, he found her slumped against a tree, ripping tufts of grass out of the soft earth.
He kept a bit of distance between them, not wanting to seem imposing, and tried to think of something to say to her. What would Sakura do?
But he was saved the trouble of making the first move when Mariko said, with a slight tremble to her voice, "I'm not a traitor to my family. I'm not going to turn on them and I will never take sides against them."
"You mean your father and the Akatsuki?" Sasuke asked, though it came out more as a statement.
Mariko dug her fingers into the dirt on each side of her. "They are the ones who raised me and took care of me for seventeen years…I've been here for three, measly, fucking weeks and everyone's acting all shocked that I would choose him over my mother," she whirled around to look up at him then, and he saw unshed tears in her eyes, which were once more silver. "Have they forgotten that the only reason I'm even here is because I'm a fucking prisoner?!"
Unable to hold in her pent up anger, frustration and homesickness any longer, Mariko buried her face in her hands and began to sob with enough force to shake her slender frame. "I just want to go home," she cried in a muffled voice. "I want to go home…"
Oh fuck, she's crying. What the hell do I do now? Sasuke's mind was racing as he tried to think of something that would calm the girl down. The only thing he could come up with was to cautiously move to her side and stoop down to put an awkward, comforting hand on her shoulder.
But Mariko jerked away from under his hand. "Don't fucking touch me," she choked, turning her watery eyes up at him accusingly. "Don't act like I don't know that you would be first in line to imprison my father; you'd probably want to deliver the killing blow to him yourself."
Sasuke withdrew his hand quickly, as if recoiling from a snakebite. "Your father – my brother – was the one person who I ever really looked up to. When I was young, all I wanted was to be around him, to spend time with him. And then he shattered my entire world in one night; everything that I knew and cared about was gone, including my older brother. I don't even recognize him anymore."
Mariko sniffed; Sasuke looked down at her. "And then you showed up, looking just like him and even wielding his old sword and I just…snapped. He wasn't here for me to take out my anger on, so I vented on you. But," he took a breath, "That was wrong of me. The history between my brother and I has nothing to do with you, and I'm…I'm sorry…for hurting you."
She drew in her breath slightly; he sounded almost like Hidan had when he apologized to her that morning in her room. That seemed so far away now; her entire life with her father and pseudo-uncles seemed so far away. Mariko looked at Sasuke with pleading eyes. "Please, just let me go home," she begged in a whisper.
"I can't," he replied softly. "You're a member of a criminal organization, a prisoner of the village, and I'm the captain of their elite ninja squad; I can't just let you go."
"You're also my uncle…my family by blood," she said, "Blood ties are the deepest bonds that can exist between people."
Sasuke smirked bitterly. "And those are the people that have the power to hurt you the most."
Mariko nodded in silent agreement, recalling how hurt she'd been by her father's stunt to activate her Sharingan.
"Is it really so bad here?" Sasuke asked, going so far as to sit down two feet from his niece.
Mariko shook her head. "No, it's not bad at all. That's not why I want to leave. My family is great and I'm glad that I got to know them; that makes it a bit more difficult for me to leave, but I still don't want to stay here forever. I don't like being tied to a place."
"Then why are you so insistent on returning to Akatsuki?" Sasuke asked.
"That's completely different," Mariko explained. "It's true that there's a place that we call home, but we're always going off all around the world. I love that; being able to travel and go wherever I want whenever I want, seeing exotic people and places, it's incredible. And I can tell you right now that being part of this village where you go nowhere without the Hokage's permission is not my idea of freedom; it's like being on a long chain."
Sasuke knew exactly what she was talking about. More than once he had been overtaken by a wanderlust that he couldn't placate because the Hokage hadn't allowed him to leave the village at the time. "Yeah, sometimes I get that feeling too."
Mariko sighed, crossed her arms over top of her bent knees and laid her head on them; her breakdown had left her tired and she shivered when a gust of chilly evening wind blew.
"You should go back to your mother's now," Sasuke said gently; Mariko didn't fail to notice that he hadn't referred to it as 'home'. "Are you going to be alright?"
She nodded, pushing herself up off of the ground and brushing dead leaves and shredded grass from her clothing. She walked a few steps off before pausing and turning slightly. "Um…thanks…for listening; it was good for me to be able to talk to someone."
Sasuke nodded. "We're family."
A tiny smile flitted across her lips as she turned away once more and continued walking.
He watched her go and felt a sense of contentment settle on him at the fact that he had managed to ease some of the tension and hard feelings between them. Sakura had been right; she wasn't as similar to Itachi as he had thought, in fact, she seemed more like Hinata now, although still much more rough around the edges. She may be his brother's daughter, but she was not his brother.
Mariko awoke the next morning feeling sick. It was similar to the feeling that had overcome her in prison when she was missing her Akatsuki family so terribly. The morning sunlight spilled through the window and she could tell that it was much later than the time she normally awoke.
She sat up and noticed that her little sister was not in her bed; she was surprised that Sayuri hadn't woken her when she had gotten up, whether intentionally or not.
Mariko sighed and flopped down on her mattress again, rolling her black luck beads between her fingers as she lay on her back, staring at the ceiling and thinking.
That Hokage had better give me back my sword. As soon as I get it, I am so out of here before they try to force me to stay.
The prospect of being thrown into prison again or restrained from going back to her father in some other way caused a strange mix of anger, sadness and regret to fill her. She did really like her family in Konoha; Naruto and her mother had shown her nothing but kindness since she was captured, her brothers and sister were everything that she could have hoped for in siblings, her younger cousins were good kids who had accepted her despite her sketchy lineage, her grandfather had actually shared his knowledge with her and helped her learn new abilities, and even Neji and Sasuke – who she had thought she would be enemies with forever, just like her father – had warmed up to her and had eventually shown her kindness. She hadn't lied to Sasuke when she said that it would be harder to leave Konoha now that her family was no longer unknown to her.
She would miss them once she was gone, but at least she had fulfilled her lifelong wish to find and get to know her mother; Naruto and the kids, as well as her extended family, had come as a pleasant surprise.
Mariko rolled over onto her stomach and pushed herself up once more, but this time, she actually stayed up. She padded over to the window and looked outside at the sunlit village and almost immediately, she could sense something imminent. She didn't quite know what it was exactly; it was just an intuitive feeling. She turned her Sharingan on and scanned the area that she could view from the window. When she found nothing wrong, she switched over to her Byakugan; still, she saw nothing.
As the veins around her eyes disappeared and the black flecks in her silver irises cleared out, Mariko wondered what change was coming.
She changed out of her pajamas and into her simple outfit of black leggings, a white tank top with a grey zip-up sweatshirt over it and her black boots. She didn't bother brushing her long, jet hair; she merely combed her fingers through it a few times before pulling it back into its normal low ponytail.
She slowly made her way downstairs; it was unusually quiet. She knew that Hachi was at the academy and Naruto was off working, and she figured that Hinata had taken Jiro and Sayuri out somewhere, or they were off with their friends while their mother ran errands; the possibilities of their whereabouts were endless.
As she opened the refrigerator and took out a carton of pineapple juice – opting once more to drink it straight out of the carton rather than use a glass – she felt the odd sensation wash over her again. She waited, not moving, for several silent moments; the quiet, a stranger in this house, was eerie and Mariko shivered slightly. But nothing happened.
She returned the juice carton to the fridge and walked outside. She let her silver eyes roam the streets and the people in them, studying as many of them as closely as she could.
She then began to walk forward, not having any idea of where her feet were taking her, merely that she was moving; she was still busy watching the crowds of people. It was as if some invisible thread was toting her along and she couldn't resist its pull even if she had tried. So she shuffled on to some location that was unknown to her, keeping a watchful eye on the people around her.
When Mariko's feet were finally still, she was facing a wall of trees that made up the edge of the western woods. Every fiber of her being was on edge, literally tingling with anticipation of what was to come. Had she been able to think clearly, she would have thought that it must be a sensation similar to the one that lightning users got before an electrical storm. But she couldn't think straight; her mind was clouded by whatever impending force was making its way to her.
She took a breath and instantly knew it was going to rain that evening; she could taste the humidity on her tongue and she could feel the tension in the back of her throat, nearly choking her.
Even when she felt another presence behind her and slightly to her right, she didn't turn to face it; she simply remained mesmerized by the woods before her.
"Something's coming," she whispered in a grated voice.
"I know," Kakashi replied, his normally nonchalant voice significantly darkened as he moved closer to her side, "That's why I brought you this."
He held something out in front of her, and Mariko finally tore her eyes away from the trees to see what it was that he was offering her: it was her father's sword.
Hidan glanced up at the sky; the weather had been sunny and pleasant up until then, but a sudden change in the wind had told him that it wasn't going to last much longer.
"It's gonna storm," he commented to Itachi, who was standing a little ways off, testing his hand that had recently finished healing.
The Uchiha paused and turned his own eyes skyward. "Hn," he grunted in agreement, flexing each of his fingers.
The priest's violet eyes glinted darkly. "Tonight?" he asked, knowing that Itachi would understand his meaning behind the one-worded question.
The dark-haired man seemed not to hear the light-haired immortal for a moment. But just as Hidan was about to repeat his question, Itachi nodded solemnly.
The Jashinist flashed his white teeth in a grim smile and tightened his grip on his massive three-bladed scythe before turning away and heading back inside the hideout.
Itachi glanced over his shoulder at the retreating back of the priest. He wondered if he was feeling the same sense of impending darkness that had nothing to do with the storm that was making its way to them.
I'm trapped in this memory
And I'm left in the wake of the mistake
Slow to react
So even though you're close to me
You're still so distant
And I can't bring you back
-- "With You"